Monday, July 30, 2007

Richmond Marathon training week 3-
Not much to report in the way of training this week. I think I definitely broke my toe MOnday night. At first I thought I did and then thought maybe I just sprained it badly, but it is still swollen and hurts.
I did get in a 4 mile run Friday and it felt ok- hurt on the hills- up and down. The toe swelled afterwards and was pretty sore on Saturday. I think I probably could have stood the pain and run on Saturday but I decided not to push it. I got my bike out for the first time this year and rode 6 miles before we went to dinner Saturday evening.
Sunday I got out for a 3.5 mile run. Still tenderness in the toe area but was manageable pain. I had plans of running 6 miles but the heat and humidity sucked the energy out of me and I called it quits at 3.5 and went home to do yard work.

Summary:
Mon- No run
Tues- No run
Wed- No run
Thurs- No run
Fri- 4 miles
Sat- biked 6 miles
Sun- 3.5 miles

Total: 7.5 miles + 6 biked

Friday, July 27, 2007

I got out for a 4 mile "jog" today. I finally figured out a way to tape my toes where I thought I could run. It was ok on the flat trail but hurt on the ups and downs.

Felt great to get out there though!!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

As of Thursday still no running. I have tried every day to see if I could stand the pain but not yet. I taped the little toe to the one next to it today but that just made it hurt worse.
I think I will try my cycling shoes on to see if they hurt and if they don't maybe I can get some biking in.

I turned 40 yesterday- July 25. This is really not the way I wanted to start my 40's.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Well- after feeling the best I have felt about my running in a long time and having 2 of the best runs I have had in a long time this past weekend I am going to have to take some time off this week.
Jessie (our 100 lb lap dog), Glenn, and I were horsing around last night and I accidentally caught my little toe on the back of Glenn's sandles and jammed it real bad. At first I thought I had broken it but I think it is just jammed badly. It is swollen about twice the size that it should be and is black and blue.
I got up this morning and put a sock and shoe on to see if I could run and didn't make it out of the door. Hopefully it won't be more than a day or two off and then I can resume training.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Richmond Training - Week 2

This week was filled with pretty good runs. Work was very hectic- crazy at times. By the end of the week I was very tired mentally.

Tuesday's run was a little tough. I started out and felt good but a couple miles in to the run my stomach started cramping. I kept running and trying to change pace a liitle to try to get it to settle down. Felt good for a while but started feeling discomfort again around mile 4. I stopped around mile 4 for a few minutes to try to feel better which I did and took off again. I ended up getting my 100M strides in during the 5th and 6th mile. It was very humid today- not sure if that is what made me feel bad.

Wednesday- Had a nice run on the paved portion of the greenway.

Thursday- Started out as s good run on the trails at the greenway but the humidity took it's toll on me late in the run. Still- I felt ok when I finished the run.

Friday- Rest day

Saturday- Kathy and Glenn left on Friday to go to the lake house. The plan was to get up early Saturday morning , do my long run, then head up to the lake. I hit my snooze about 4 times on Saturday morning and finally just turned my alarm off and slept in - figuring I would do my 13 miler at the lake sometime over the weekend.
I got to the lake, played in the water with Kat and Glenn for a while and then while they ate and took a nap I went for my run. It was in the mid 80's but the humidity wassn't too bad. It turned out to be a very good run- the fasted pace and the best I have felt after a long run in quite some time. Of course I was running on very flat land at the Lake Hartwell Dam, but still, the run felt great.

Sun- Woke up to rain which was gone by mid morning so we spent a good amount of time in the water again before leaving to come home. After unpacking I went out for a 6 mile run. I had some tight hamstrings starting out but they loosened up well and I ended up pushing it pretty hard for the 6 miles. I can feel the progress I am making so far- feels good.

Summary-
Mon- No run
Tues- 6 miles w/ 100M strides
Wed- 6 miles
Thurs- 6 miles
Fri- Rest day
Sat- 13 miles
Sun- 6 miles

Total- 37 miles

Monday, July 16, 2007

Richmond Training - Week 1-
This was supposedly the first week of the 18 week program for Richmond. I say supposed because I don't have a program designed yet. I am working on it and looking at different alternatives but not exactly sure yet. This week- week 1- I just did the same thing I had been doing the last few weeks of 3 weekday runs of 6 miles each and weekend runs of 12 miles and 6 miles for a total of 36 miles. That seemed like a good starting point since I had actually not done a longish run on the last 2 weekends.

The weekday runs went well. As previously said, I pushed it pretty hard on Tuesday and the heat hit me but over all a good run.

Wednesday's run was a blast. I pulled up to the parking lot at the greenway and it rained for about 1 minute then stopped. I hopped out the truck and took off. About 1/4 mile in to the run I could hear what I thought was wind in the trees to my right.... when all of a sudden the down pour started. I got up under a group of thick trees but it was raining hard enough that I was soon very wet. It slacked off and I took off again. The sun popped out and the sauna affect started but only briefly because it started raining again... and rained for the full 6 mile run- very hard at times.

Thursday -The sun returned on Thursday. I brought my old shoes and ran the trails in the wooded portion of the greenway. There were a few areas of slipping and sliding but nothing too bad- just enough to make it fun.

Friday- scheduled rest day

Saturday- woke up to more rain and was very sleepy so I decided I would wait until mid morning to run, which turned out to be mid day, which turned out to be mid afternoon. So, after letting the cool part of the day escape, I head out at the hottest part of the day for my 12 miler. I got warm but as has been the case all summer so far, the heat didn't really affect me. I took a gel around mile 8 that pepped me back up a bit and I had a good last 4 miles to the run.

Sunday- It had been raining earlier in the morning but had stopped by the time I got home from church. I took off as soon as I could change after church to get the run in so I could get back home in time to go to our nephews b-day celebration. I got about 1/2 mile in to the run and it started raining again. It wasn't too hard of a rain and felt good in that it helped it stay cooler.

Looks like this next week may be a wet one for running- but then again this is a summer in Georgia and the weather is unpredictable minute to minute.

Summary:
Mon- No run
Tues- 6 miles
Wed- 6 miles
Thurs- 6 miles
Fri- Rest day
Sat- 12 miles
Sun- 6 miles

Total- 36 miles

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

I have two courses I run at the greenway. One is 2/3 dirst trails with mostly shade and the paved part is about half shade. The other is all pavementcement/boardwalk and almost exclusively in he sun. This is the one I have been running for the past couple of weeks although I enjoy the trail course much more.

I went out for my usual 6 mile run today and it was hot! I have started filling my water bottle and drinkng it in the mornings instead of going back for that 2nd (or 3rd) cup of coffee hoping that help keep me hydrated.

I pushed it pretty hard on my run today and it felt pretty good until the last mile or so and it was difficult to keep the pace. Got back to work and ate, then went straight to a meeting. About an hour in to the meeting I went to push my chair back from the table- bam- hamstring started to cramp. Dang! It never totally cramped and I was able to stretch it out sitting there and all was good.

I guess more hydration is needed, or at least hydrate with a gatorade in the morning.

My last week before the official program takes off for Richmond. Although I consider the base building I have been doing as training for the race and the first 1/3 of my program will be a continuation of the base building. The program is still a work in progress so I am not sure how high my mileage will be after this portion. I have to be careful not to build up too fast and end up lacking the motivation to go out. I want to keep running fun!

I went for a massage Tuesday after work. My first massage in over 3 years. I wanted to get loosened up heading in to the program. I have another one scheduled for the 3rd week of training to work out any kinks that might arise in the first weeks of training.

This past week I did my normal schedule for the weekdays of 6 miles on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. The Peachtree road race was on Wed (the 4th of July). Glenn woke up just before the race started and watched it with me. Every since our race together he wants to go race now. He pointed at the leaders in the Peachtree road race and said he wanted to get his running stroller and go race with them. Ummm... ok. :)

I did take him in the stroller to the park for a 6 mile run around noon. It was a fun run- he chatted the whole time and told every one we passed hi and that he had his running stroller. I don't think he sees a stranger. After the run I sat on a park bench and stretched and he pushed his running stroller up and the path we were on. Then he would "race" back. We were walking back to the truck (about .25 mile away) and we saw two fawns that still had their spots on them so we watched them for a few minutes. Quality time!!!

I didn't get all of the miles in over the weekend that I wanted but that's ok. I got out to run mid afternoon on both days and it was hot and humid. Both runs were at a good pace. I got out for 7 miles on Saturday afternoon and 8 miles on Sunday afternoon.

Mon- No run
Tues- 6 miles
Wed- 6 miles
Thurs- 6 miles
Fri- rest day
Sat- 7 miles
Sun- 8 miles

Total- 33 miles

Monday, July 02, 2007

Richmond Marathon-
I finally decided to sign up for the Richmond Marathon. The race is on Nov. 10, 2007. The 18 week training program starts on July 09, 2007.
I don't know which program I will use yet- probably a combination between Higdon's Int. 2 program and the Pfitzinger 55 mpw program. I would love to use the Pfitzinger program as I did in the past but the longer mid week runs scare me- or maybe intimidate me a bit is a better way to look at it. The last 2 times I started this program I just quit training because of fatigue and ended up just floating through some type of running and not having very good races.

Week of 06-25-2007:
I wasn't going to have a step back week but the way it turned out it was. I have gradually been building up and was up to 36 miles the last 2 weeks. I ended up cutting my long run in half on Saturday and then cutting my Sunday run by 2 miles. We went to the lake house for the weekend. Kathy and Glenn actually went up on Thursday night with her parents and I was going up after my run on Sat. morning. I set my alarm to get up early to run and then head to the lake. After hitting the snooze 3 times I turned the alarm off and went back to sleep. I don't a chance to sleep in much so that is exactly what I did. I cut my 12 mile run in half and did 6 miles mid morning then headed to the lake.
We had a great time- the water was nice so Kathy and I stayed in the water with Glenn most of the time. The boy has no fear of water. I wish he would have just a little.

All of runs during the week seemed a little tougher than normal. I ran the trails at the greenway on Tuesday and was a little slower with more effort than normal. Then Wed and Thurs I ran the opposite way on the greenway and ran the paved/cement/board walk portion. The sun was out in full force and the humidity seemed pretty bad and I really struggled some on these runs. Just last week I was commenting on how the heat was not affecting that badly this year and I think I jinxed myself because it kicked me in the behind this week.

Sunday's run turned out to be a "get out and stretch my legs" run. We got back from the lake in the evening and after unpacking and cleaning up I went out for a 4 mile run. It turned out to be a good run and I wish I would have had more time for a few more miles but needed to get back homefor dinner and to start settling down for the evening.

Summary:
Mon- No run
Tues- 6 miles
Wed- 6 miles
Thurs- 6 miles
Fri- No run
Sat- 6 miles
Sun- 4 miles

Total- 28 miles